Monday, February 4, 2013

Bob Menendez Statement Analysis: Right Wing Smears

Does Bob Mendendez issue a reliable denial about prostitution, or is it, as he calls it, "right wing smears"?We look for him to issue a reliable denial which is made up of three components:The pronoun, "I"The past tense verb, "did not" or "didn't"and then we expect him to address the specific allegation. "I didn't go to a prostitute" would be easy to say for the innocent. Statement Analysis is in bold type.

(CNN) -Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, in an exclusive television interview with CNN on Monday, denied claims that he had engaged in parties with prostitutes during trips to the Dominican Republic.

"The bottom line is all those smears are absolutely false,"

1. "False" is sensitive, with "absolutely"

2. "Bottom line" means that there are lines above this that are not being addressed by him.

3. What is "absolutely false"? It is the "smears", which are not addressed. The "smears" might be absolutely false but what about the allegations? He does not tell us that he did not go to a prostitute.

The New Jersey Democrat is also battling allegations of improper travel with a generous donor whose plane he took to the Dominican Republic and who has business ties in the Caribbean nation.

Shortly before Election Day, a conservative online publication cited three unidentified sources who claimed Menendez had flown on private planes to the Caribbean and during the trips had sex parties with prostitutes.

Menendez, however, fired back on Monday and called the prostitute allegations "unsubstantiated."

"The smears that right-wing blogs have been pushing since the election - and that is totally unsubstantiated and it's amazing to me that anonymous, nameless, faceless individuals on a web site can drive that type of story into the mainstream," he said.

He now says that the smears are not only unsubstantiated (meaning, not proven through) but are the ones that "right wing blogs" are pushing. This indicates that there are other smears than just the ones being pushed by right wing blogs. Expect more allegations on the subject to surface, which are not yet public.

"But that's what they've done successfully. Now nobody can find them. No one ever met them. No one ever talked to them but that's where we're at," he added.

This is not to say that he did not go to a prostitute, nor the other things he claims are "unsubstantiated." If Bob Menendez cannot bring himself to say he didn't do it, we are not permitted to say it for him. His comments came as one of the women accused of being a prostitute involved with Menendez denied those claims in a Spanish-language interview released on Monday.

The woman, identified as 21-year-old Yaneisi Fernandez, says she's never met Menendez or worked as a prostitute.

"I've never participated in those activities, I don't know those people or that man," Fernandez told Univision. CNN is not able to verify Fernandez's story.

As for the other allegations, Menendez has faced scrutiny for taking multiple flights in 2010 with the donor, Dr. Salomon Melgen, a South Florida ophthalmologist. However, he didn't pay for the flights-valued at $58,500-until January 4 of this year.

Asked Monday why it took so long to repay the money, Menendez said he was having a busy year and chalked it up to an oversight.

"I was in a big travel schedule in 2010 as the chair of the (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee), plus my own campaign getting ready for a re-election cycle and in the process of all of that, it unfortunately fell through the cracks," he told CNN.

"it unfortunately fell" is passive language, which seeks to conceal responsibility. These things do not "fall" on their own; they are dropped by someone.

"When it came to my attention that payment had not taken place, I personally paid for them in order to meet my obligation," he added.

"In order to" is the same as "because" making it very sensitive as to why he "personally paid" for it. This is a very sensitive topic to Menendez.

Pressed further on how he managed to overlook such a big chunk of money, Menendez said, "The bottom line is when it came to my attention, I paid for it."

"There were a series of flights that were alleged," he continued. "Several of them were shown not to be the case, but after the election when I got to look at the allegations and I did my own self-inspection, I ultimately came forward. As a matter of fact, one of those flights I self reported."

Note he addresses the "series of flights"

Another issue has to do with whether Menendez advocated on Capitol Hill on behalf of ICSSI - a port security company in which Melgen has a stake. The company had a contract to screen cargo that went through Dominican ports, but Menendez argued last July during a Senate subcommittee hearing that Dominican authorities didn't want to "live by" the contract.

Asked if he used his influence to help Melgen, he said: "I have always advocated for issues and I have advocated for policies, and that's what I have done across the board."

Avoidance. He did not answer the question, making the question of using his influence a sensitive question to him.

10 comments:

Just a little heads up how Democrats in the state of NJ campaign... They market the idea of the voter to just vote straight down the Democrat line... On election day, they promote this concept with a door hanger calling out to do this strategy.. Sad to say, most do this. I find it offensive personally, the mere action of voting this way, as if I have no brain to think for myself for the right choices for local government on up... This is a common practice to target low-income and minority cities, towns, and individual neighborhoods if so be it... I live in one of these neighborhoods, so I see and have learned quite a bit.. In most of NJ, being a presidential election, there were alot of coattail rider winners...this guy was secured with his win, once again... Menendez had campaigning to do, he says??? hehehe Please, don't laugh too hard!!!

A local boy has been missing since late Tuesday night. 17 year old Jake Samusenko went to take out the trash at his home on East 2nd Street in Erie, and hasn't been seen since.

His family thought he may have been going out for a walk after taking out the trash, due to the unseasonably warm weather, but when he did not return that evening, his family called the police.

Police are investigating, but have no leads yet.

His family does not understand who would want to hurt him, because he is good quiet kid.

"He really doesn't have any enemies," his sister, Maria, said. "Most of his friends are from church. There aren't any bad influences," Maria said.

His family says he is not someone to run away, as he's very responsible and mature for his age.

To keep their spirits up, the religious family turns to prayer, and is adamant about praying together as a family.

In an effort to spread the word about Jake, the family has created a facebook page: "Help Find Jacob Samusenko." They have also set up an account to send tips, that the police will have access to (and access to the facebook page): helpfindjacob@yahoo.com

Again, there is a $10,000 reward for Jacob, or information that can lead to Jacob.

Jacob is 5'5 with dark brown hair, around 130 lbs, and was last seen in track pants and a red top.

Information can be directed to the abovementioned address, or you can call Erie Police at 814-870-1120.

Wow, this post has upset someone with poor grammer.I like Sarah Palin. What does she have to do with this post? What does Obama have to do with this post? I mean other than that he is deceptive and smears Republicans like Menendez.

I feel the media is missing the big story here. They and Menendez would rather talk about the prostitutes (which is legal in the DR) rather than the port contract.

Menendez sits on a Congressional Committee where he can give huge money-making contracts to unqualified individuals (and did), and then pressure the DR to follow through on said contract (and is), last bring the matter before the committee to enforce said contract. (And did). Something has to be illegal there.

Peter, I was thinking, upon hearing Menendez's statement, about the way politicians speak in general. SA teaches us that the shortest, most direct answer, is the most reliable. My question is do you think that a politician's natural tendency towards wind-bagginess would skew a his answer? What I mean is, this is a person who talks and gives speeches for a living. This is a person who is probably in love with the sound of his own voice. "I didn't hire any prostitutes." is the most believable answer but it's not a well-crafted 'political' answer. Why use 5 words when you can use 25? Don't get me wrong, I think he's full of crap but I wonder, if the need to put a spin on your answer adds verbal clutter that clouds your meaning or if SA would still ring true? Just rhetorically speaking.